BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – This week marks the first anniversary of the Howard Center’s mental health urgent care.
Since opening, the clinic has served around 65 unique visitors each month. They have had more than 1,600 visits in the last year, including those who have visited the clinic more than once.
However, the clinic has the capacity to see more people, and staff are working to spread the word that mental health care is here if you need it.
At 8:30 in the morning, the Mental Health Urgent Care is quiet. Staff gear up for another day as the clinic hits its one-year mark.
“The strength of our staff has been really incredible,” said Charlotte McCorkle, Howard Center Senior Director of Client Services.
She added, “They have shown up day after day in a warm and caring way to destigmatize mental health services and provide really accessible services and support.”
The clinic is a collaboration between four organizations: the Howard Center, UVM Medical Center, Community Health Centers of Burlington, and Pathways Vermont.
It serves people 18 and older in need of immediate mental health support.
Maureen Leahy is the Director of Psychiatry for the UVM Health Network and one of the people who came together to create the urgent care.
“There is a newer concept to provide really what is an intermediary level of care between a primary care setting and an emergency department setting,” said Leahy.
The goal is to help ease the demand on emergency services while providing care in a calm, therapeutic environment, unlike emergency rooms, which can have bright lights and lots of loud noises.
“We deliberately—and this sounds like a small thing, but we deliberately put the guest facing—the guest rooms on the lake-facing side of the building,” said Leahy.
Staff say that they have seen more college students and non-Howard Center clients than they had expected.
Maureen Leahy, UVM Health Director of Psychiatry, noted, “What that says to me is that there was a need in the community, maybe that we were not aware of.”
Going forward, they hope to extend current service hours, as well as expand care to those younger than 18, knowing how great the need for mental health care is.
“We do not want people to wait for things to become an absolute emergency to get help. We want people to feel comfortable accessing help as soon as they are experiencing symptoms or needing support,” said McCorkle.
If you need mental health support, the clinic is open Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. All services are free of charge for the next two years. And staff tell me, they encourage you to stop in and see the space when you are well, so that you know where to go and what it is like if you ever need support.
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